make a move just to stay in the game
by tedtonksed
Summary: 10 or so years in the future Will decides to see how are his gleeks doing. He discovers that each and every one made it in show business - some big, some less but still above average - all except Rachel and Finn. - Pre-season 3


**Title: **Make a Move Just to Stay in the Game  
**Rating: **T  
**Word Count: **2,408  
**Fandom: **Glee  
**Characters/Pairing: **Will/Emma, Finn/Rachel, Sam/Kurt, Mercedes/OC, Quinn/OC, Santana/Brittany, Artie/Tina/Mike, Puck  
**Spoilers: **Slight spoilers up to 2.05  
**Summary: **From a glee_angst_meme prompt; 10 or so years in the future Will decides to see how are his gleeks doing. He discovers that each and every one made it in show business - some big, some less but still above average - all except Rachel and Finn.  
**Disclaimer:** Do not own. Title is from Keane's "Everybody's Changing."

* * *

In the 15 years Will Schuester had been a high school teacher; he had met a _lot_ of teenagers in many different cliques: the cheerleaders, jocks, Goths, divas, nerds and hundreds more. Of these teenagers, he had seen a _lot_ of them amount to many different places; jail, rehab, the stage, the cigarette counter at the supermarket, courtrooms and their own little houses with white picket fences. But of all these students, Will Schuester had only met a few who had made it out of Lima, Ohio. Of the thousands of teenagers he had seen pass through McKinley High, it was his Glee club from 2009-2011 that he could see going the furthest. And so when Figgins began hinting towards the 10 year reunion for the senior class of 2011, Will made it his mission to individually track down each of his Gleeks and invite them personally.

It took far more searching than he had planned on Emma's part to discover the addresses of all 12 glee members and Will had lovingly praised his wife for successfully sneaking the information out from under Figgins' crabby secretary's nose. And with the help of the bonuses Figgins had finally granted him and Emma, Will Schuester found himself on an early morning plane to LA.

* * *

When high school had lumped her to the bottom of the social heap despite her eventual re-captaincy of the Cheerios; Quinn Fabray refused to _ever_ let life do that to her again. So the minute her mortarboard had floated back down to the sunken grass of the McKinley High football field, she had taken off for her Californian university; leaving behind an alcoholic mother, several boyfriends who refused to stick around, and the soft blonde curls of a little girl perched in her new mother's arms. Needless to say; Quinn Fabray had left McKinley High in her dust.

So when a slightly greying but no less happy Will Schuester pulled up at the doorstep of her comfortably fashionable loft, Quinn was less than pleased. This didn't improve when a slick, shiny envelope was thrust into her hand. The words _**"YOU'RE INVITED TO THE WILLIAM MCKINLEY TEN-YEAR REUNION FOR THE CLASS OF 2011" **_glaring up at her in elegant calligraphy only made her want to throw up a little. No amount of pleading on Mr. Schue's part would make her want to give up her fancy job at her hotshot lawyers, her large, spacious home and her pretentious yet loving almost-fiancé to attend a crappy reunion where she'll be faced with three of her exes: the boy who impregnated her and then got sent to juvie, only to realize relationships "weren't his thing", the boy whom lied to her face about his sexuality, only to start dating the only openly-gay person in the whole school. And her first love, whose heart she broke, causing him to run into the arms of her Public Enemy No. 1, where he was brainwashed into staying for all junior and senior year. Either way; Quinn Fabray did _not_ want to witness that reunion, did _not_ want to be reminded of all her failings and misgivings. No matter how pathetically disappointed Mr. Schue looks, she's not going. She swears.

* * *

Life after high school had done them all a lot of good. But sometimes it felt like the drama just kept on following them all around. Junior Year for his Gleeks had Mr. Schue remembering a fair few things; the disasters of Britney Spears and Rocky Horror, Emma and Carl, the Sunshine drama and the inclusion of Sam, the ridiculous and unending ridicule from Sue Sylvester, and the never-ending cycle of the Tina/Mike/Artie triangle. To his misfortune, Will Schuester soon found out that ten years; doesn't change much. Much like Quinn; Tina Cohen-Chang, Artie Abrams and Mike Chang all enjoy their current lives. They're all reasonably wealthy, quite well-known, and are so mixed in an eternal love cycle that they don't think they'll ever get out of it. Managing their joint lives together is easy; Tina and Mike will dance and Artie will organize their careers like the excellent manager and part-time director he is. What they can't manage is everything that goes on behind the scenes. Everytime Mike flirts with another dancer; Tina goes spinning back into Artie's arms and the minute he neglects her for his video games, his editing software or his PDA, she's back as part of the dynamic Asian duo that the public expects; slightly hating herself for how dependent she is on these two men. So when they too receive a sealed envelope from Mr. Schue, the general consensus is that they can't go. Not because of clashing schedules (because Artie is all up on fixing that), but because while they want to announce to the skies how much their lives have changed since high school, yet each one of them wants to hide forever how much they've stayed the same.

* * *

If you'd asked any of the 2011 graduating class where they could see Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce in ten years; the general answer would have been 'doing absolutely nothing with their lives'. Santana Lopez loved proving people wrong. And being so wonderfully successful and happy was just the cherry on top. The biggest surprise that Will was greeted with when he knocked on the door to the Lopez-Pierce house was not the hyperactive puppy named Duck pouring out of the house chasing after a duck named Puppy, nor was it the framed wedding photos that were hanging from the walls; proving that even Santana could settle down. What surprised him he most was the crisp white lab-coat that hung from a peg in the hallway. The idea of Santana caring enough about other people to want to _help_ save and heal them was enough to shock him into submission. Catching his eyes and throwing him a smirk, Santana burst into a retelling of how Brittany's faith in her and her ability to always make her feel better had inspired Santana to follow in her father's career path; leaving Brittany free to teach dance at the local dance studio. Santana's newly discovered heart, however wasn't to last long when the envelope was pushed into her hands and she burst into sarcastic giggles, announcing that there was no way in hell she would be showing up to an event that pitiful just so Quinn Fabray could prance around with her perfect blonde highlights and her perfect blonde husband and show off her perfect blonde children. Mr. Schue's protests (and explanation of how Quinn wasn't like that) were shook off as he was given a firm "no" and a tight hug from Brittany before being ushered out of the house with the lingering pain of a duck-bite.

* * *

Mercedes Jones knew she was a lot of things in high school; unpopular, a diva and a fabulous singer. She also knew she was also second-best. She tried not to show it; but it hurt when Mr. Schuester would give Rachel all the solos and Mercedes just the last note. She understood that Rachel was a phenomenal singer and she knew the girl deserved the majority of those solos (despite her terrible personality and attitude) and Mercedes was happy for her to have them. Because she knew that losing a solo to Rachel would never hurt as much as it did when Santana and Quinn, who never took Glee seriously in the beginning, still managed to get more solos than she did. This meant that when she was approached after a practice with her church choir by a tall, official-looking man bearing her biggest dream, Mercedes had jumped at the chance to for once be someone's number one, rather than the girl who wailed the last note. It was multiple groundbreaking albums and one steady, loving relationship (in which she wasn't just there to boost his popularity) later that Mr. Schuester showed up at the door of her beyond-amazing New York penthouse, with the breathtaking view (which Kurt would stare at for hours every time he visited, despite having a very similar view of his own). Mercedes had honestly taken Mr. Schue's offer of a Glee club get-together into consideration when he asked. And she wanted to. The idea of seeing everyone after so long apart was beyond appealing and her long-term boyfriend had expressed the exact same opinion. But deep down inside; Mercedes didn't want to go back to Lima; she didn't want to see all her high school classmates and bullies. She didn't want to be second-best all over again.

* * *

Kurt Hummel knew he was "living the life". He had a perfect house, a perfect car (for special occasions on request of his father), a perfect career, a perfect husband, a healthy dad, an amazing stepmother and a no-longer homophobic best friend of a stepbrother. After so many years of constant bullying and shattered dreams, Kurt had never imagined he would end up so happy; with a budding career on the Broadway stage and numerous playbills with the name Kurt Hummel-Evans printed neatly inside. Looking around his living-room at the view of New York outside the window, Will Schuester sitting uncomfortably on the suede couches and Sam Evans (he refused to add the Hummel to his name), his husband! fumbling around with his ridiculously expensive camera equipment in the corner, he honestly could not have been happier. And like Mercedes, Kurt was genuinely thinking of attending the reunion. It would give him an excuse to visit his father and Carole and he knew Sam wanted to meet with Rachel's fathers to gather ideas on the best way for Kurt and him to have their first child. But also like Mercedes, Kurt was worried. He still had vivid memories of high school. Of the dumpster dives and the slushies. Of the derogatory graffiti on his locker and the pornographic pictures in the locker room. Kurt would never forget the week he and Sam decided to 'out' their relationship and Finn had been suspended for two weeks and suffered a broken wrist after beating up Karofsky for dropping the 'f' word that Finn had stripped from his vocabulary after the basement incident and his first dinner with Rachel's parents. Kurt's life may be perfect now, but he can't forget the days when it wasn't. And when Mr. Schuester finally asks for Finn's address, explaining that he had great difficulty finding him, Kurt realized just how out of it everyone was.

* * *

Of all the places in the country Will Schuester had expected to find Finn Hudson and Rachel Berry; living in a town just outside Lima, Ohio and running a small Vegetarian/Vegan cafe and teaching music to the elementary and middle schools didn't make the list. The lives he had imagined for his male and female lead contained countless parties and Broadway shows, lives filled with fame and music and an extravagant wedding in the middle. He didn't expect to knock on the door of a tidy, little house to find a clean-shaven, slightly older Finn Hudson, with a small disheveled head poking out from behind his legs. A few minutes later, Will is seated on a worn sofa in a cheerful looking living-room, watching as Finn settles his son in the corner with a pile of LEGO pieces. Handing him a mug, Finn sits on the sofa opposite him, twisting a wedding-ring on his finger. Eventually curiosity wins out and Will blurts out all his questions of "what happened". With a pained smirk, Finn begins weaving the tale of scholarships, universities and minuscule apartments in New York, with hopes of bright lights and overwhelming clouds of teenage love. His story then turns to dislocated kneecaps and operations and the wet tears of his girlfriend as her Broadway dreams are brought crashing down. Multiple surgeries later, her dreams have no hope of resurrection and all their supposed 'friends' from Glee have stopped returning phone calls. It takes an unplanned pregnancy and a small wedding to finally break through the haze of loss, but they made it. Finn finishes up his story with a sad smile as Will realizes how far these two people have come in just ten years. Light footsteps on the stairs alert the two men and the small boy to an older but still tiny Rachel Berry-Hudson standing tiredly in the doorway while a two-year-old girl with dark hair and eyes, clings to her shoulder, blinking softly and reaching out to her father. Small hands grab at Rachel's waist as she presses a kiss to Finn's lips before allowing her son to stroke the swelling bump of her stomach. Reaching out gently, Will pats her knee, trying hard not to stare at the faded cross-crossing scars, and hands forward an envelope. The invitation inside is greeted with soft smiles and his first official agreement, as the pair cradle their children and smile happily at one another. The news of no other acceptances doesn't deter as Finn grins cheerfully and Rachel looks uncomfortable at the mention of all the teammates who abandoned them. Will Schuester however leaves their house with a newfound hope.

* * *

Sure enough, Finn and Rachel's confirmation of attendance is immediately followed with a straight-up "yes" from Puck, who filled in all the missing details that Finn had deliberately left out. How Rachel's busted knee had brought him and Finn back together, with the amount of support they had both needed. How he had been their best man and was the godfather of all their kids (born and unborn). How Rachel had reunited with Shelby many years previously and was the whole reason why Puck got to be Uncle Noah to her adopted sister and his daughter, and how of all the Glee clubbers, he was the only one to stay in touch with the Hudson family (apart from Kurt and Sam who struggled to visit regularly). But Mr. Schue couldn't help but feel downhearted as Puck showed him out, promising to convince Sam and Kurt to show up, and half-heartedly explaining that he would talk to the other members of New Directions, but Mr. Schue shouldn't get his hopes up.

* * *

However, within two weeks of receiving 9 of 12 negative responses, Will Schuester finds himself spread out on the bed, his small redheaded wife curled next to him as he carefully replaces 9 tiny crosses with neat, blue-inked ticks.

* * *

**A/N: **Alright. I'm almost certain that this fic is _full _of mistakes that I missed so I'm sorry for that. Also; I failed in the fact that this was meant to be an angst!fic and I finished it up with flaming piles of Finchel!happyfamily fluff. What else…I'm not happy with the Tina/Artie/Mike part; I kinda feel like I made Tina seem really desperate when she's not but I guess that's how it came out. Plus I feel bad because I initially forgot Puck's section and had to shove it in there (basically; he lives near Finn and Rachel and gets to see Beth often). But hope you enjoyed anyway.

:)


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